Kitchen Cupboards

Cup cupboard.  The most used items get the most convenient location, and least used items get the least convenient locations. We store kids' cups in a drawer where they can reach, which is why you only see big-people cups and glasses here.

My kitchen cupboards are extra tall, but still came with the normal three shelves.  So I added some extra white wire shelves to better use the space.  Many cupboards have extra space between the shelves.  Bins and labels keep small items like supplements organized and easy to pull down.

The same cupboard, with a ward directory and map on one side, and our family's "yellow pages" (most commonly called numbers) on the other side.

Baking cupboard.  Because our family makes a loaf of bread in the bread machine once or twice a day, I want all the bread ingredients in one spot, other than the yeast in the refrigerator.  Another time saver is leaving the lids off the bins we use often - wheat flour, white flour, and sugar.  One bin on the middle shelf labeled "sugar stuff" holds bags of powdered sugar, brown sugar, chocolate chips, and coconut.  Another bin on the top shelf holds small baking items like toothpicks, muffin cups, flavorings, and food coloring.

Inside the door of our baking cupboard.  Here we attach the rotating dish schedule and often-used recipes like bread and pancakes.

The cupboard above the refrigerator can be put to good use with a rack or two that holds thin pans and platters upright.  I purchased these at Lowes.

Medicine cupboard. Each pull-out bin holds a different category of medicine, like pain relievers, skin creams, bandages, sunscreen and repellant.  Label makers can be fun, but using tape and Sharpie marker, or typing and printing labels on the computer works great too.

Kids art cupboard.  These drawers hold fun stuff (from the bottom up): playdough with cutters, paper, crayons/markers/scissors/colored pencils, stickers, and envelopes.

Pots and pans cupboard.  Lids are in a bin in the back. The black binder holds our CDs in one organized spot.  A strange place to store CDs?  It makes sense only when you realize our kitchen CD player is right above this cupboard.

Corner turntable cupboard.  I like food containers that nest, so I got rid of my mis-matched old ones, and purchased the new "disposable" type made by Ziplok and Glad.  I have a pile of squares, a pile of rectangles, and a pile of circle containers.

The lids are easy to find and put away nested in a bin.

Jar cupboard.  Lids in a bin, small jars in a bin below, large jars above.

Under the kitchen sink cupboard. Bins hold cleaning supplies.  We store Costco size dishwasher detergent in a two-liter soda bottle, making it nice n' easy to pour into the dispenser. We store strainers here as well as cutting boards, because they're both used at the sink.

Inside the cupboard door under the sink.  Our kids each have an assigned cup color, and they place them here between uses.  We place the whole group through the dishwasher regularly.

Inside the other door under the sink.  Small strainers on hooks.  I love using extra space behind doors. The little hooks are attached with double-sided foam tape, which is removeable.